Earthquake near Kings Beach, CA

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 11 km (7 mi) from the epicentre. In Kings Beach, 12 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Incline Village, Tahoe Vista, Truckee, Dollar Point, Verdi, Mogul.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 8.1 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,900,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,300,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 120× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 8.1 lb of TNT

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log₁₀E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

For this area

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 9 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.0 Near Reno, Nevada · 26 km NE of this epicentre Feb 18, 1914
2. 6.0 6 km WNW of Verdi, California · 23 km NNW of this epicentre Dec 29, 1948
3. 5.9 9 km NW of Truckee, California · 21 km WNW of this epicentre Sep 12, 1966
4. 5.6 5 km NE of Loyalton, California · 44 km NNW of this epicentre Apr 1, 1959
5. 5.3 11 km N of Soda Springs, California · 34 km WNW of this epicentre Mar 30, 1943

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 39.3457, -120.0222. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

56 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

1. 1.6 0 km WNW of Carnelian Bay, California 01:38 UTC
2. 1.6 13 km SE of Sparks, Nevada 19:35 UTC
3. 2.1 0 km WNW of Skyland, Nevada 07:42 UTC
4. 1.7 1 km W of Carnelian Bay, California 19:01 UTC
5. 1.6 4 km WSW of Sattley, California 03:33 UTC
6. 1.5 4 km WSW of Sattley, California 00:52 UTC
7. 1.6 5 km WSW of Sattley, California 11:15 UTC
8. 1.6 1 km WNW of Carnelian Bay, California 02:01 UTC
9. 1.6 8 km NE of Incline Village, Nevada 02:45 UTC
10. 2.3 8 km NE of Incline Village, Nevada 20:15 UTC
11. 2.0 13 km NW of Virginia City, Nevada 20:14 UTC
12. 2.7 8 km NE of Incline Village, Nevada 20:11 UTC
13. 1.5 13 km ESE of Sparks, Nevada 16:29 UTC
14. 1.5 7 km N of Incline Village, Nevada 20:31 UTC
15. 2.2 26km W of Sunnyside-Tahoe City, CA 23:45 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 13:30 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

• The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
• Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
• ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.